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Bear Grease

Ep. 344: Water Witching

Bear Grease

MeatEater

Wilderness, Sports

4.87.1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 July 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Witching, dowsing, divining. is it physics, subconscious movement, or straight-up hocus pocus? In this episode of the Bear Grease podcast, Clay Newcomb speaks to firsthand observers, a legit water witcher, a university physics professor, and even MeatEater's own Steven Rinella to try to explain one thing: "What makes the sticks move?" Maybe it's legit but just something that can't fit into the scientific method box.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is an IHeart podcast.

0:04.1

This episode is brought to you by FHF Gear, American-made gear that's built to take a beating.

0:11.0

I've used their bino harnesses and chest rigs from the swamps of Florida to the mountains of Alaska,

0:16.6

and they've held up every step of the way.

0:18.8

When you're in a rough country, wet, cold, dusty, and hot,

0:22.7

you don't have to wonder if your gear can hang.

0:25.4

And with FHF gear, I don't have to.

0:27.7

It's tough, practical, and it's built by folks who understand the demands of the wild.

0:33.9

Check it out at FHFgear.com.

0:40.8

This is... Check it out at FHFgear.com. Everybody wanted a well.

0:43.3

They go get either Jess Quentin or Seth Timmons or somebody to go with you well.

0:51.2

And now the well drillers, now them drillers, though so them witches don't know nothing about it but

0:57.6

I wouldn't I would if I drilled a well I would want to witch you have you ever heard of

1:07.2

witching for water it's an ancient folk method for finding underground water,

1:12.7

but people today believe that you can also use it to find underground utilities

1:17.7

and a bunch of other stuff.

1:19.4

It's long been chalked off by science as hocus pocus,

1:23.0

but it's still widely used in rural America,

1:26.2

and I'm interested in how people view this.

1:29.3

On this episode, we'll interview seven people.

1:32.5

A legit water witcher, a casual water witcher,

1:35.9

a guy who knew a legendary water witcher,

...

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